Colorado's Magnolia Road Attracts All Levels of Runners

The high-altitude road offers scenery and challenging terrain

Just west of Boulder, Colo., as you head up the canyon into the mountains, you'll find a rolling dirt and gravel side road that offers spectacular scenery of mountain ranches but is otherwise unremarkable -- if you're driving in a car.

Over the past 35 years, however, the 8-mile stretch of Magnolia Road has been the proving ground for hundreds of elite distance runners -- Olympic medalists, world record-holders, NCAA champions, and big city marathon winners. In fact, with all due respect to the track at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., and, lately, Green Church Road in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., Magnolia Road might be the most storied distance running training venue anywhere in the U.S.

The list of those who have trained on Magnolia Road reads like a who's who of champion runners and record-holders:

The University of Colorado has used the road to forge numerous NCAA cross country championship teams under the guidance of coach Mark Wetmore. Team KIMbia runners have logged countless miles up there for many years, and for much of the last two decades, a large cluster of elite Japanese women has been seen on its rolling hills once or twice a week as they prepare for fall marathons.

"Mags," as it is affectionately called by those who run it, is situated between 8,100 and 8,800 feet in the ideal altitude training zone that, if properly implemented, can greatly expand training effects and harden (or break) a runner's resolve. And with fall marathon training in full swing, the dog days of August mean prime time for pain and suffering on Mags.

"I think, more than anything else, that it just makes you tough," says elite American runner and former Colorado All-American Brent Vaughn, who lives about 10 minutes from the west end of the road. "No matter what kind of shape you're in, you're going to hurt up there. It helps you develop end-of-the-race skills where you need to run strong when you're hurtin' pretty badly and you just have to get through it. It's probably as much of a mental factor as it is anything else. If you want to run fast and get tough, Mags is where you need to run in Boulder."

The beauty of distance running is that it's decidedly not location-specific. Wherever you happen to be in the world can be a perfect the unique challenges of the local topography into long runs and high quality workouts aimed at hardening you mentally and physically for race day. And that's exactly why Mags has been a favorite training venue for international elites based in Boulder, as well as countless aspiring local sub-elite runners alike.

It has gained cult-like notoriety as a bucket-list destination for runners only since it was canonized in Chris Lear's Running with the Buffaloes in 2000. For years, Wetmore's top-tier NCAA charges have hardened themselves by parking at the west end of the road and running grueling 16-mile out-and-back long runs that include a 700-foot elevation gain on the way back. (The Buffaloes also have a brutal 20-mile loop that includes parts of adjacent Peak to Peak Highway and Highway 72.)

But what makes Magnolia Road special for running is what it's not. It's not a multimillion dollar track surface in Eugene. It's not an exquisitely manicured urban park in Manhattan. It's a dusty, rustic and typically lonely road bordered by mountain ranches and thick forestland, with no curbs, no sidewalks and no distractions. There are a few steep sections, but its rolling high altitude profile is more relentless over the long haul than it is acutely severe in any one stretch. It's an inherently difficult road to run at any speed, but all the more so if you're willing to match the intensity of the environment.

Most of those you'll see driving on Mags are local residents, many of whom are ranchers or those seeking isolation from trendy and crowded Boulder 30 minutes down the mountain. Late-model pick-up trucks are more common than luxury SUVs, and the only pedestrians are runners who have come up to callus the mind and strengthen the heart amid the discomfort that the road always provides.

"Everybody who has ever come here to train has run up there," says Team KIMbia athlete manager Peter Tanui, a former elite Kenyan road runner who trained in Colorado for most of his career. "Up there, it's never easy. But if you can run strong up there, you can do it anywhere."